“Now that we know the genomic fingerprint of the healing MSCs we can be choosy and only put those cells into patients, which may improve their outcomes,” - Dr. Bernard ThébaudDr. Bernard Thébaud and his team have uncovered which types of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are the best at healing lung injury in the lab. His team previously discovered MSCs from umbilical cord tissue can prevent a chronic lung disease called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in newborn rodents. They are now testing this cell therapy in a Phase 1 clinical trial.
Umbilical cord MSCs are very diverse, and some may be better at healing than others. Team member Dr. Chanèle Cyr-Depauw used a technique called single-cell RNA sequencing to identify the MSCs with the greatest healing power. Her results, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, showed human umbilical cords contain both healing and non-healing MSCs. Only the healing MSCs improved lung structure and function in rodent models of BPD.
“Now that we know the genomic fingerprint of the healing MSCs we can be choosy and only put those cells into patients, which may improve their outcomes,” says Dr. Bernard Thébaud, neonatologist and senior scientist at The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO and professor at the University of Ottawa.
Authors: Chanèle Cyr-Depauw, David P Cook, Ivana Mižik, Flore Lesage, Arul Vadivel, Laurent Renesme, Yupu Deng, Shumei Zhong, Pauline Bardin, Liqun Xu, Marius A. Möbius, Jenny Marzahn, Daniel Freund, Duncan J. Stewart, Barbara C Vanderhyden, Mario Rüdiger, Bernard Thébaud
Core resources: Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting Facility, StemCore Laboratories, Louise Pelletier Histology Core Facility
Funding: This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Stem Cell Network, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, The Canadian Lung Association, Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Molly Towell Perinatal Research Foundation and The German Research Foundation and the Clusters4Future Program - Cluster SaxoCell (03ZU1111IA) by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation.
